Friday, September 05, 2008

From the Guardian we have this temper tantrum disguised as an editorial from the TEC Bishop of Washington, John Chane.

Guess the talking-points from 815 didn't work so well in the Lambeth Indaba groups after all?

Riazat Butt of the Guardian says that Bishop Chane article "is more critical than the one issued by primates from the breakaway conservative movement the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon)."

Bishop Chane thinks that TEC has been left out in the cold so that Rowan Williams could "pander" to the 230 bishops who did not attend Lambeth. Where is Chane's binky? "There was far too much recognition of those who chose not to participate in this Lambeth conference and far too little recognition of those bishops who chose to come," Bishop Chane wrote. He made it clear that he will not be abiding by the moratorium prohibiting the blessing/marriages of same sex couples or the ordinations/consecrations of non-celibate homosexuals, saying, "for the American and Canadian churches, that clearly means sacrificing once again the full participation of gay and lesbian persons in the life of our church. I for one will not ask for any more sacrifices to be made by persons in our church who have been made outcasts because of their sexual orientation."

"The Anglican Communion must face into the hard truth that when we scapegoat and victimize one group of people in the church, all of us become victims of our own prejudice and sinfulness." Bishop Chane wrote, as though forgetting that the entire crisis began when the Episcopal Church ignored the pleas from the rest of the Anglican Communion - including the Archbishop of Canterbury - and went ahead with blessing same sex unions and consecrating Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

It appears that Bishop Chane thinks that actions do not have consequences. preferring to turn the tables and call the Episcopal Church the victims - no wonder the Guardian thinks his remarks are far more critical than those coming from the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans FCA) or GAFCON.

We heard over and over again from the liberal Episcopal bishops that those who stayed home from Lambeth were no longer in the Anglican Communion, but that is not the view of the Archbishop of Canterbury who is writing to all the bishops who did not attend the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury. He made it a point at his final press conference that he would be reaching out to all the bishops who did not attend and he has invited all the primates to gather - including the FCA primates - first thing in the new year. This does not make Bishop Chane happy.

And so to make that point very clear - he has vowed to break the moratorium. We have heard similar vows from the Bishop of California as well.

The thing is - when we last saw the Bishop of Los Angeles, Jon Bruno, he was positively buoyant as he wandered about the streets of Canterbury with his wife on the Monday after Lambeth ended. He did not look at all upset - in fact he looked quite pleased as he posed for photographs and shook hands with patrons along the way.

And now we have Bishop Chane bitterly complaining about scapegoats and victims - not exactly in a buoyant place himself, is he?

You can read the Bishop Chane's editorial, Scapegoats of the Anglican Communion, in the Guardian here. It is simply beyond the pale that anyone would have the audacity to say that Episcopal Church actions are causing them to be "scapegoated." TEC was warned by the instruments of the Communion that there would be consequences and now we have bishops like John Chane who believe they are beyond consequences.

Is it no wonder, then, that Rowan Williams reaches out to those who would still call him friend?